Before we get too far into 2011, Bob talks to Ann Mack of JWT Intelligence about the 100 things to watch this year, from technology to culture. Mack is JWT’s Global Director of Trendspotting. Then, founded in 1988 by two juniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the satirical newspaper The Onion grew from a college-town favorite to a Peabody Award winning (still satirical) news organization. JJ Adler, director and co-executive producer of the Onion News Network and Carol Kolb, head writer, talk about The Onion’s history and the debut of the Onion News Network on the Independent Film Channel.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

German immigrant and 19th century entrepreneur William Steinway rose from poverty to become one of New York City’s most powerful figures. He kept a detailed record of his life and times, and now, for the first time, the 2,500 pages of his diaries are available for scholars and the public to read on-line. The William Steinway Diary is available at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History website.Curator Cynthia Hoover and on-line editor Anna Karvellas discuss the project. Then, in Franklin and Eleanor, biographer Hazel Rowley examines the evolution of the Roosevelt marriage from conventional Victorian union to a radical, political partnership. The Roosevelt marriage was also one filled with scandal: FDR’s lifelong affair with Lucy Mercer and Eleanor’s purported lesbianism, and many more in between.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Beloved children’s book author Norton Juster is the author of the classics The Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and The Line. He recently teamed up again with friend and illustrator Jules Feiffer for a new book, titled The Odious Ogre. Then, singer-songwriter and now playwright Rain Perry discusses her most recent album Internal Combustion. Perry is also the composer of the theme song of the TV show Life Unexpected.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Four million Americans are afflicted with glaucoma and half of them don’t even realize it. Glaucoma is the primary culprit of preventable blindness and for Eve Higginbotham, Executive Dean for Health Sciences at Howard University, the disease packs another punch: it’s six to eight times more common in African Americans than in other tested groups. Dr. Higginbotham speaks with Bob to mark January as Glaucoma Awareness Month. Then, Andrew Alexander is an innovative and influential theatre, film, and television producer, known most widely for his leadership of The Second City theatre company and the hit television show SCTV.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times joins Bob to talk about politics and other news.Next, Frank X Walker’s latest book of poems, I Dedicate This Ride, was inspired by Isaac Murphy, a 19th century jockey who rode three Kentucky Derby winners. The son of a slave, Murphy’s success earned him wealth and international fame. In the early years of thoroughbred racing, most of the jockeys were African-American. As the profession became more lucrative, black jockeys were replaced by whites. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of John Samuel Tieman. He believes in God, and he believes in love. Tieman says both God and love are present everyday in his life, expressed simply and profoundly through the hands of everyone he meets.